My Taiwan Trip

After a simple breakfast of toasts and fruits, we waited for our driver Mr Zeng, a taroko native to pick us up. Today, we would be going to Hualien through the HeHuanShan Road. The road, the only one that links Taichung to Hualien, passes through Taroko National Park. We would be spending a whole day on the mountainous road touring Taroko National Park. 

We set off slightly after 10am towards Tarako National Park. Our first destination was HeHuanShan (合欢山). 

We reached Wu Ling. Wu Ling is the highest road in Taiwan, at an altitude of 3200m.

Next, Mr Zhang drove us to Bilu Scared Tree. It was almost noon when we reached there. According to Mr Zhang, the tree is at least 3200 years old. So coincidentally, the number "3200" again. The tree is about 40m tall. There a cafe there where we stopped over for our lunch. I ordered the black pepper beef rice which tasted so so. But the spicy pork rice that my mother had tasted worse. Nonetheless, we were lucky that we decided to have our lunch at the cafe, as we were stuck on the road latter for an hour due to the fallen stones that blocked the entire road.

The road that was blocked by fallen rocks as a result of soft soil due to the past days of raining. Our driver had told us that driving through Taroko during this period of raining season could be dangerous. I was impressed with the efficiency of the road department of Taiwan that maintained the Taroko Gorge. They were fast in clearing away the boulder.

We arrived next at Tianxiang. Once  arrived, we could see the Xiangde Temple with the status of Goddess of Mercy and the Pagoda from a distance. 

The next place we visited was the Cimu Bridge. There were several interesting rock formation here. The boulders below the bridge resembled a toad or frog. Doesn't the other picture looked like two heads looking at the same direction?

Next was the suspension bridge near Yuefei Pavaillion. The other end of the suspension bridge lead to another trail into the mountain.

After leaving the Cimu bridge, we began to see more tourist buses on the road. In fact, a lot of tourist buses. I learnt from Mr Zeng that most of those tourist buses are carrying PRC tourists. We arrived at our next destination, Eternal Spring Shrine (长春洞). By now, some of my family members are bored. My sister complained that all the scenery looked the same and there was nothing spectacular. Well, I thought otherwise.

 Our last destination in Taroko, the shakadang trail.

Before Mr Zeng drove us to our hotel in Hualien, he brought us to the Qingshui Cliff. A magnificent view of the Pacific Ocean.